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Artistry in Fiber

Although we’re soon approaching the madness of the holiday season, if you have a moment, or actually a couple of hours to yourself, settle in with a big cup of coffee or tea and immerse yourself into Wall Art by Anne Lee and E. Ashley Rooney. Wall Art is the first volume of the "Artistry in Fiber" series published by Schiffer Publishing. This first volume features the work of 100 textile artists whose out-of-the-box creativity pushes boundaries with techniques, processes, and materials.

Each artist profile features a description of what inspired them, their process and technique. Materials can include traditional fibers like cotton, wool, silk, and plant derived fiber to metal and high-tech polymers. Techniques run the gamut from felting to quilting to weaving to wrapping.

For the piece Habitat Ruben Marroquin layered yarns, mason twine, paracords, and metallic threads over a bamboo armature. Marroquin says about his work, “I gravitate towards sculptural quality in textiles, often expanding this aspect by incorporating bamboo poles as an inner armature. I am interested in the experimental combination of materials, the spontaneity intrinsic to the assembly process, and the physical act of wrapping, knotting, and weaving all these elements together.”

North Carolina-based Sharon Parker’s Prophecy (diptych) made from unspun wool and, silk and yarns is inspired by the past and an uncertain future. The piece’s imagery depicts weathered, rusted surfaces (the past) with luminous, misty surfaces (the future). Her process, Parker writes, “..lets me respond to what I experience from the past and present, and from there create something new.”

The colorful and vibrant Springs Energy by weaver Susan Klebanoff is a multilayer tapestry in cotton, wools, and synthetics. She says of her tool of choice, “The loom is the predecessor of the computer to the computer and remains a relevant tool for artists today, It can be used for various expressive applications such as ones. That are painterly, sculptural, conceptual, and even mathematical.”

Artistry in Fiber, Vol 1: Wall Art is akin to walking through a museum or an art gallery in the comfort of your home. An appendix of the artist’s websites and contact information is included for readers who want to learn more about the artists and where their work is currently exhibited.